Effect of seatbelt and airbag loads on thoracic injury risk in frontal crashes considering average and small body sizes and age‐dependent thoracic fragility

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Antona‐Makoshi, Jacobo¹; Yamamoto, Yoshihiro¹; Kato, Ryosuke¹; Kunitomi, Shouhei¹; Konosu, Atsuhiro¹; Dokko, Yasuhiro²; Yasuki, Tsuyoshi²; Takamiya, Tomoaki²

Effect of seatbelt and airbag loads on thoracic injury risk in frontal crashes considering average and small body sizes and age‐dependent thoracic fragility

Proceedings of the 2016 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury

Affiliations

¹Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI) in Tsukuba, Japan

²Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc. (JAMA) in Tokyo, Japan
Abstract and keywords

This study evaluates the effect of age‐dependent thoracic fragility and reduced body size on thoracic injury risk in full frontal crashes under a wide range of seatbelt and airbag settings. A total of 36 full frontal 56 km/h crash simulations were conducted with three JAMA human body models (Adult AM50, Elderly AM50 and Elderly Small) and a vehicle interior model. The human models were positioned on the driver's seat and were restrained with a conventional three point seatbelt. Three levels of airbag load and four levels of belt force limit were combined. Simulations with the Adult AM50 model predicted no rib fracture under the wide range of restraints settings. The models with thoracic properties representative of Elderly predicted large numbers of rib fractures for belt force limits of 4 kN or higher, regardless of body size and airbag settings. Reduced belt force limits led to a lower number of predicted rib fractures. However, this reduction was achieved at the cost of increased body forward excursion. This led to head strikethrough events in some cases with the AM50 models. The results highlight the importance of accounting for age‐dependent thoracic fragility and body size in search of optimal thoracic protection for diverse populations, including the elderly.

Keywords:
Links

URL: http://www.ircobi.org/wordpress/downloads/irc16/pdf-files/111.pdf

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2018	Kurita A, Kitagawa Y, Eggers A. Influence of age on chest injury in simulated table‐top loading test with double diagonal belt. In: Proceedings of the 2018 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 12-14, 2018; Athens, Greece.125-127.